The 150th Pennsylvania

The colors of the 150th, on display at the state capitol

The year is 1862. The War of the Southern Rebellion has flooded field after field with blood and the dead. Though volunteers had already been sent from western Pennsylvania, being largely absorbed into the Erie Regiment, they were not the last. President Lincoln had, in May of the previous year, called for additional volunteers to be mustered and organized by their various state governments. One such regiment was the 150th Pennsylvania. The regiment itself was made up of men from across Pennsylvania, but companies C, H, I, and K all hailed from Crawford County. Their commanding officer, Henry S. Huidekoper was also from Crawford County. Though new, this regiment would serve with distinction in some of the most difficult battles of the last years of the war.

Origins of The Pymatuning Resevoir

Gate House at the Pymatuning Reservior - 1930's

While in recent times the imposition of man’s power over nature has come under much needed scrutiny, there are situations where the total destruction of one area can lead to much better life for the residents of many others. An example of this is the creation of the Pymatuning Reservoir, which was necessary both for the economic development of the region and to prevent future seasonal floods and droughts.

Salt and Mud: Early Roads and the First Turnpike in Western Pennsylvania

A turnpike being raised

Today, a trip from Meadville to Pittsburgh takes about an hour and half. The worst travelers have to deal with today are the occasional storm, constant road repairs, and the terror of witnessing a driver attempting to merge while texting. Two-hundred years ago, the story was quite different. Obviously 79 did not exist, but neither did many other roads save for the one carved out of the woodlands by the French prior to their expulsion by the British or the many trails left by the native Americans. These same paths became the roads of the pioneers that would settle the area fifty years later until, due to pressure from trade, the first turnpike in Western Pennsylvania was built.

Meadville's Other Major College

The Unitarian College, 1908

From the mid 1800’s up through the early 1900’s Meadville had not just one college in the city, but two--Allegheny College and the Meadville Theological School. This was unique as most other cities in Pennsylvania at the time were lucky to boast one school of higher learning if any. While Allegheny College still exists and is flourishing within the community the same cannot be said about the Meadville Theological School it was closed here in 1926, but it lives on as part of the Meadville-Lombard Theological School of the University of Chicago.

The World War 1 Artwork of Clarence Underwood

Clarence F. Underwood - 1905

Clarence Frederick Underwood [1871-1929] was one of the leading illustrators and commercial artists of his generation, providing work to a range of books as well as highly circulated publications such as Harpers, McClure's, The Saturday Evening Post, LIFE, and The Ladies’ World. Although born in Jamestown, NY, he resided in Meadville after his parents opened a drug store on the corner of Chestnut and East Avenue. Here Clarence, along with his younger siblings, Alice, Ida, Belva, and Frederick (all born in Meadville) would grow up.

Training

Clarence attended both the public schools as well as Allegheny College, but art was his ticket to the larger world. Leaving Meadville he received formal training at the Art Students League in New York, then London, and later at the Julian Academy in Paris as a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens, Benjamin Constant and William Bouguereau, in 1896. Soon after leaving the Academy, Clarence would choose for himself a career as an illustrator.